The Supreme Court recently rejected Donald Trump‘s request to avert his “hush money” sentencing. A majority of five justices voted to deny the last-minute, emergency reprieve of the president-elect’s lawyers to stop his sentencing hearing in last year’s New York conviction, which can happen as scheduled on Friday at 9:30 a.m., as per CNN. However, he is neither likely to face penalties nor prison time as Judge Juan Merchan had ordered an “unconditional discharge” sentence.
In May, a jury found Trump guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying his business records after paying $130,000 in “hush money” to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to conceal their alleged affair ahead of the 2016 presidential elections. Prosecutors had claimed that the politician made the payment via his then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, and later reimbursed him.
How does this update affect President-elect Donald Trump?
In a five to four ruling, the Supreme Court refused to stop Donald Trump’s Friday’s “hush money” sentencing hearing in the New York case. The five justices rejected the president-elect’s request to delay the proceeding, which can now happen days before the inauguration on January 20 when he will again take office for a second term. Additionally, the justices noted that he will not face any time in jail or penalties owing to the trial after Judge Juan Merchan’s order for an “unconditional discharge” sentence.
The Supreme Court also released a brief statement that Trump’s complaints “can be addressed in the ordinary course on appeal.” Furthermore, it wrote that “the burden that sentencing will impose on the President-Elect’s responsibilities is relatively insubstantial” because of Judge Merchan’s signal about lack of prison time. Therefore, he will virtually appear for the proceedings from Mar-a-Lago on January 10 at 9:30 in the morning.
Since the ruling, Donald Trump addressed the “hush money” sentencing to reporters during a meeting with Republican governors at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. CBS News stated that he spoke about his plans to appeal the case despite the unconditional discharge” sentence. Trump mentioned the trial judge’s decision “about no penalty” before notifying about his plan to “appeal [the case] anyway.” He then called it a” fair decision” and said, “I’ll do my little thing tomorrow.”
